Have your say

One of the founding principles of this forum is to enable members to influence issues affecting older people in the Harrogate district.

Published reports and results of surveys can be found on the ‘Publications’ page on the ‘Information Hub‘.

Please note that consultations appear in order of their closing dates!

2018

Have your say on the Mental Health Act

Service users and carers with experience of the Mental Health Act are asked to complete an online survey to have their say on an Independent Review of the Act.

The Mental Health Act 1983 is the law in England and Wales that covers assessment, treatment and rights of people with a mental disorder. This includes when a person can be admitted, detained, and treated in hospital without their agreement. The review has been set up to listen to people who have experience of the Mental Health Act so they can comment on what future practice and or the law should look like. The survey, which closes on 28 February 2018, can be completed online and includes questions about individuals and their experiences. (Source: NHS England).

Organ donation is in the news: your views are sought

A record 170 organ donations took place across the UK in January, resulting in more than 400 life-saving transplants. The rise in numbers comes as the NHS is running a public consultation into whether England should follow Wales and introduce an opt-out donation scheme.

The online consultation is taking place until March 6th. Please follow this link to access the survey.

Have your say on the prescribing of over-the-counter medicines for minor conditions

NHS England wants to hear the views of patients and the public on the prescribing of over-the-counter medicines for minor conditions. A national consultation sets out proposals showing how ending routine prescribing for minor, short-term conditions could free up vital funds for NHS frontline care. To get involved and have your say on the consultation, you are invited to attend one of the following meetings or webinars:

Wednesday 21 February, 1pm – 2:30pm – Webinar (online).

Monday 5 March, 2pm – 4pm – London (face to face).

To register for one of these sessions please visit the NHS England website, go to the bottom of the page and click on your chosen event. The consultation closes on 14 March 2018.

Plans to extend Blue Badge to those with Autism and Dementia

The Government are consulting on plans to extend the Blue Badge scheme to people with dementia and autism. Find out more and take the survey here. Deadline 18 March 2018.

CQC is planning to rate independent healthcare – what do you think?

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is seeking your views on the proposals – they want to hear from anyone with an interest.

‘On 26 January 2018, CQC published plans to evolve regulation of independent healthcare services in England. The proposals in this consultation document represent the evolution of their approach, rather than introducing new methods. It builds on their knowledge of independent healthcare services and their specialist expertise. It will enable a more targeted, responsive and collaborative approach, in line with their strategy. CQC has been given the power to award ratings to some of these services for the first time. This is important for people who use services, as it will provide more transparency about the quality and safety of services provided by the independent healthcare sector’ (CQC 2018).

Have your say on the way your local GP services are working

‘Things are changing at GP practices, with online services, longer opening hours and other new investments rolling out nationally. From January until the end of March 2018, more than two million randomly selected people registered with GP practices will be invited to answer a postal questionnaire about their experiences so if you are selected please do take part. For the first time, 16 and 17 year olds will be included and the survey will cover new questions about recent service changes and topics including mental health. The survey is carried out securely and information published does not identify individuals. The findings help us to see what’s working and what needs to improve’. (Source NHS England Issue 60).

NHS England has commissioned Quality Health to run an online survey to gather feedback about people’s experiences of personal health budgets in England. All current or previous personal health budget and integrated personal budget holders, can register now to receive a link to the survey when it opens on1st March. The findings will be used to improve how personal health budgets are offered in England and the survey closes on 30 April 2018.

Bite size guide for improving deafblind patient and carer public voice in the NHS

NHS England is committed to ensuring that patient; carer and public voices help shape healthcare services and inform service development. A bite size guide is now available to help deafblind people participate in patient and public involvement opportunities.

Friends, family and carers are encouraged to download and read this bite size guide to help deafblind people get involved. To download and read this bite size guide and other useful resources, visit our Involvement Hub.

Care for the Carers wants your opinion on carers’ rights

Are you a carer? Are you aware of your rights? Care for the Carers invites to to participate in a survey:

Knaresborough resident’s views sought

Knaresborough Town Council is determined to represent residents to the best of its abilities. To help inform decision making, the current council have implemented an annual survey to ensure they are focussing efforts in the right areas and communicating with residents as effectively as possible. This is the first survey and the intention is to run it each year.

Have you heard about the CQC’s online community?

The CQC’s online community is where the public can get involved in its work and take part in discussions. It use the public online community website to gather the public’s feedback on everything from draft policies and proposals to posters and leaflets. Community feedback will be used to shape how it works and develops the information it provides to help people choose care.

The CQC wants to hear about the quality of Care For Older People

Research has shown that older people are less likely to complain about services and are less aware of the different ways they can share their views. However it is also known that older people are the most regular users of health services. Two out of three people admitted to hospital and 70% of hospital emergency beds are taken by those aged 65 and over. It is vital that the voices of our growing elderly population are heard.

If you are aged 60 or over and receiving care, or a friend or family member of someone who is, the Care Quality Commission want you to tell them about the care you’ve received, good or bad. Their inspectors can’t be everywhere at once and your information will help them to decide when, where and what to inspect. By telling them about your experiences, you could stop poor care happening to someone else. For further details, follow this link.

Healthwatch North Yorkshire GP Access Survey

When it comes to consistency and continuity of care, how important is it for you to have access to your preferred GP whenever you request an appointment? (from April 2015 onwards)

Healthwatch North Yorkshire is currently conducting a survey around GP access and would be grateful if you contributed your experiences here GP Access Survey….

Connect with personal health budget holders at peoplehub

Peoplehub is the national user-led network for personal health budget holders, bringing people together to share experiences and help shape national policy. You can find out more about them on the peoplehub website or by joining their Facebook group. Hear more about the important contribution peoplehub makes in this short film. (Information provided by NHS England).

Could you be apart of the North Yorkshire Police Stop and Search Lay Observer Scheme?

The Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme requires police forces to provide opportunities for members of the public to accompany police officers on patrol when they might deploy stop and search powers. if you might be interested in participating in the scheme, please follow this link.

CQC wants your views to help develop their 2016 to 2021 strategy

It is now developing a new strategy to be launched in spring 2016. This will be a five year strategy that will set out its vision for health and social care quality regulation in the future.The CQC would like you to complete its web survey to help it develop the new strategy. This is an informal opportunity to feed into the strategy as it develops. In early 2016 it will run a formal consultation on the proposed approach, before publishing a finalised strategy later in the year.

Review of care for older people

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is seeking your comments on its review of care for older people. This review looks at care for older people and explores how different services are organised and coordinated, and how this affects the quality of care that people receive. If you would like to share your experience, please contact the CQC on 03000 61 61 61, enquiries@cqc.org.uk, or their online form. For details of ‘Integrated Care for older People’ click here.

Harrogate District Housing Forum

The Forum meets four times per year and is open to all partners, tenant representatives and councillors.

The Forum forms a key part of the housing consultation and engagement structures set up by Harrogate Borough Council to support and advise in developing and implementing the Housing Strategy and other associated strategies. The forum is open to any agency or individual with an interest in housing and homelessness in the district.

Help to improve the NHS with feedback on your local NHS services

All of us can help improve the NHS by giving feedback after visiting the dentist, a GP practice, or when we use local hospitals, community services and mental health services. The Friends and Family Test enables patients to make their voices heard and is a quick way for all patients to give NHS staff a “thank you” or say how things could be better. Patients have already given more than 7 million responses in two years and the Friends and Family Test is now operating across most parts of the NHS.

Do you have concerns about staying safe on-line or have you been a victim of an on-line scam?

Do you have concerns about the internet and about being a victim of cyber crime?
If so, North Yorkshire Police Cyber Crime is conducting a short anonymous survey which gives you an opportunity to share those fears. By completing it, you will help them build a picture to understand better the fear of cyber crime in our local communities.

At a recent board meeting, representatives from Yorkshire patient transport spoke about patient transport. The service is run by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) and Hester Rowell, Head of Engagement, spoke about eligibility for the service and how people can access it. Healthwatch would like to know how you have found the service. Were you satisfied or could it be improved?

To share your views and experiences:

e-mail healthwatchny@nbforum.co.uk or telephone 01904 621631

‘Fix My Street’ service

Harrogate Borough Council is encouraging the district’s residents to use its new FixMyStreet service – a one-stop shop for reporting Common Street problems that the council needs to address.

By visiting http://harrogate.fixmystreet.com, or by using the application which is downloadable to smart phones and tablets, people can register problems which the council needs to know about such as graffiti, fly tipping, littering, dog fouling, damaged signs, faulty street lights, broken paving slabs, potholes, damaged playground equipment and overgrown footpaths.

To keep up-to-date with the latest consultations from the Council, click here.

Health Service Provision

The Harrogate & Rural District Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is consulting local residents about health service provision in the district. If you would like to find out how you can influence decisions on the services which are available or if you have questions you would like to ask the CCG ….. join their information service HaRD Net and find out about all the latest developments. There are also some interesting publications including the group’s vision for unpaid carers.

Your involvement can be as much as you like: receive a quarterly newsletter, take part in surveys etc.

Don’t forget to have your say about local health services. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is asking for feedback from health service users and their relatives and carers. If you would like to keep up-to-date with the CQC’s work, why not sign up for its monthly newsletter?